Etopia Press / Renegade YA

KathleenD said:

I don't see any word count requirements, either here http://etopiapressblog.wordpress.com/submission-guidelines/

or here

http://etopiapressblog.wordpress.com/submission-calls/

But "short fiction" is still fine.

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Oh cool. They take Urban Fantasy. Thanks for that.

Congratulations, Sara Lou! Can you explain a little about their plans for the YA line? I'm thinking about submitting to them...

Sure. There is going to be a separate area on the website for YA. Their site is supposed to be up in May. Spring/summer the print books will be released three months after ebook release, and then in the fall the books will be released concurrently in ebook and print. They've begun running advertising in RT magazine, and they're also talking with someone about dedicated social media promo for YA. I had two contract offers before I signed and a friend also was offered by a different company at the same time. I think Etopia's contract was far more generous than the other's. Also, Annie was awesome and ultimately it was her demeanour and her willingness to answer my questions and make me feel secure about signing my first contract that ultimately won me over. Plus, their books are available on Kobo, Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon CA, and a whole bunch of other sites so I think they have the reach if you're willing to do a little promo.

Thanks!

Hey guys, little extra feedback here.


I submitted to Etopia back in late March and in mid-May asked if they had received my submission (since they say it's okay to query if there's no response after 4 weeks) and I received a very professional email from Annie Melton informing me that my work was in the hands of one of their lead editors and that a final decision should await me come May 18th.

Well, I waited far past May 18th. I waited till June, and I was fine with that, and decided to query them again to see what was up. This time I got no response. I waited two more weeks, queried again, no response. It's now July 5th and I've still heard nothing back.

I mean, if they have it and they're still looking it over, that's great! But no one's letting me know. I don't know if I should be holding my breath still or not. They don't seem like the type to ignore emails, after all they did tell me that they'd give me a final decision, so....


I don't know what to think. Kind of extreme for an average 4 week waiting period. Like I said, if it's still being considered then I have no problem with them taking their time. Did anyone else in this thread have a similar experience with them?

Hey,

I just thought I would write an update since it really sucks waiting for responses. The company moved a few weeks ago to the East Coast. Annie and the team are really behind because of this, and they're still setting up their offices, and getting on top of books in production, and covers, and everything else... I'd give the person you submitted to a nudge, and I'm sure she'll get back to you.

And good luck!

Sara Lou said:

Hey,

I just thought I would write an update since it really sucks waiting for responses. The company moved a few weeks ago to the East Coast. Annie and the team are really behind because of this, and they're still setting up their offices, and getting on top of books in production, and covers, and everything else... I'd give the person you submitted to a nudge, and I'm sure she'll get back to you.

And good luck!

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Ah, okay, good to know. At least I know that there's still hope and that they're not just ignoring. I wish them the best and hope I get a response soon!

I just wanted to add to the discussion that I have a YA romantic comedy published by Etopia (June 2012) and absolutely love working with them. For me, they were really quick on all response time -- 10 days from query/submission to contract and then 3 months after that the manuscript was published. My editor and I both work quickly so that pushed it through production faster than usual.

Good luck to all waiting for responses or working on edits!

I have just signed with Etopia

having only subbed to them on July 19th. My first novel. Their response time was amazing and I got fed up wait wait waiting for responses for that same full. This far Annie has been great and I am looking forward to working with them.

Do they have their official website up yet? I can't seem to find it, only the wordpress site.

I just sold my first short story to them (6500 words), and was amazed at the response time. It was literally overnight. I was so excited to sell my first story that I accepted right away, LOL. I'd done a little research on them, which is why I submitted to them in the first place, but I know very little about what makes a publisher good or bad.

Thanks, Theresa! I'm afraid I'm not on twitter, but I really should be. Sigh. Keeping up with all the new social media makes my brain hurt, sometimes, probably because I'm getting old. Next thing you know I'll be shaking my cane and yelling, "You kids get off my yard!"

C.P. Foster said:

Thanks, Theresa! I'm afraid I'm not on twitter, but I really should be. Sigh. Keeping up with all the new social media makes my brain hurt, sometimes, probably because I'm getting old. Next thing you know I'll be shaking my cane and yelling, "You kids get off my yard!"

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Don't chase them off your lawn before you've given them a bookmark with your book's title and your name clearly on it. If you're not on Twitter, they probably are, and there's no reason that instead of tweeting "Crazy old lady chased us off her lawn" they can't be persuaded to tweet "C.P. Foster, author of 'XXX' by Etopia Press" chased us off her lawn."

Excellent advice. :-D Though if they mistake me for a man, I'm going to chase them off my lawn with a bullwhip!

C.P. Foster said:

Excellent advice. :-D Though if they mistake me for a man, I'm going to chase them off my lawn with a bullwhip!

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Sorry, I fixed that. And remember, it's better to respond with a cane or whip in real life, than to make the equivalent response to an on-line review.
The neighbours may forget, the Internet never does.

Heh, seeing I'm just using my initials here, I can hardly blame you for getting a 50/50 guess wrong. :-D

C.P. Foster said:

Thanks, Theresa! I'm afraid I'm not on twitter, but I really should be. Sigh. Keeping up with all the new social media makes my brain hurt, sometimes, probably because I'm getting old. Next thing you know I'll be shaking my cane and yelling, "You kids get off my yard!"

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LOL! Yeah, Twitter is addicting. I love it. I boycotted it for as long as I could, before finally caving and creating an account. After I figured out how to use it, It was all over. haha!

New Etopia website coming soon! Very excited about that! No more wordpress!


UPDATE: 2/1/2014: Etopia has sold all of their YA, fantasy and horror titles to an even smaller publisher who needed a startup line. Several Etopia YA, fantasy and horror titles were not chosen to move to the new publisher, WILDWOOD GROUP, and those titles have not been included on Etopia's "new" website...which has been taken down already to "maintenance" after it was launched without being complete.

Just saying...

Woo hoo! They've made an offer for a series of shorts based on a Halloween story I just finished writing for them.

My first short with them is due to come out on 9/7. I have no experience with other publishers, so I have nothing to compare them to, but things have been going very well so far.

Anyone have any new info for this press?

What kind of info are you looking for? I've got a couple of things with them, but it's too soon to see any sales numbers yet. I like Annie and the other editors, and there's a nice community of fellow authors that support each other in marketing and promotion.

C.P. Foster said:

What kind of info are you looking for? I've got a couple of things with them, but it's too soon to see any sales numbers yet. I like Annie and the other editors, and there's a nice community of fellow authors that support each other in marketing and promotion.

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Just trying to find out if they pay on time, what sales are like, how muh marketing the company does for its authors, whether they send out review copies or if that's left to the author. Just the usual stuff really.

They absolutely pay on time, monthly. My two books came out last year and they still sell several copies a month--not a lot of sales, but it adds up.

They have a new anthology out that seems to be getting some attention. I've seen a few tweets about it among my friends. They still don't seem to have a real website though, just a blog.

Saanen said:

They absolutely pay on time, monthly. My two books came out last year and they still sell several copies a month--not a lot of sales, but it adds up.

They have a new anthology out that seems to be getting some attention. I've seen a few tweets about it among my friends. They still don't seem to have a real website though, just a blog.

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If you don't mind my asking, what were initial sales like when your books were first released? Did they sell in the triple or double digits? Not asking for specific numbers, just a ballpark idea is fine.

Double-digits, never triple, but my books are fantasy without a lot of romance. I'm sure their romance books do a lot better.